Annual Sea Quest 2013

Every year at the estuary in Ravenglass there is a canoe and kayak event where participants take part in a race along the estuary and up the rivers Irt, Mite and Esk. This is a great and colourful event and, although there are some serious competitors, the main aim of the day is to have fun. Carol and I generally pop down to take some snaps so I will keep you posted.http://www.copelandcanoe.org.uk/seaquest.html

Birds at Ravenglass

Our campsite, together with the surrounding area and estuary, are a haven for wildlife and, especially, offers a great opportunity for bird-spotting at all levels of ability. This post details all the birds spotted either on-site or within a 1 mile radius of the camp-site in addition to offfering a little bit of information on the birds. All the pictures have either been taken by myself or by guests staying with us and thanks again to the photographer Adrian Ward he allows me to use his images http://adriansimages.blogspot.co.uk/

This is a picture I took during winter when the birds need a little bit more energy food than normal. In the shot are the familiar garden birds Blue Tit and Robin; although these two are common on site I never get tired of seeing them - in this case familiarity does not breed contempt. The Robins on site are clever little things who almost always follow me when I do ground work in the hope that they pick up a nice morsel, they often do! The big fellow is a Greater Spotted Woodpecker and we have two, possibly three, breeding pairs on site that regularly visit the feeders. These birds are wonderful to see either in flight or feeding but maybe the most delightful aspect is to get up early on a beautiful morning and listen to them tapping into the trees.

Loads of Blackbirds on site this photograph was taken in early May just as the cherry blossom was coming out.

As our site is set in 6 acres of mature woodland with protected trees we are very lucky to have several resident Treecreepers who feed off insects under bark. The photograph above, one of many taken by Adrian Ward, is a superb example and displays the feeding habit perfectly (taken on-site february 2013)

Another of Adrian's pictures this one with some of the regular visitors to bird-feeders. Here we Long-tailed Tit, Chaffinch (male and female) and a great shot of a Coal Tit coming in for a feed.

Another garden favourite, the Great Tit, taken on our new bird-table bought from http://www.arkwildlife.co.uk/ a great company to deal with for all bird/wildlife related products.

 

 

I am really pleased with this shot, I was actually trying to take a shot of a Mistle Thrush that comes to take a drink and one of our many Chaffinches took a quick bath before trying to find a mate. Chaffinches are wonderful birds and would be better appreciated if they were rarer.

 

 

On the perimeter of the campsite many birds can be spotted that don't normally visit our centrally located bird-feeders, these include Redpoll, Siskin, Blackcap, Goldcrest, Brambling, Bullfinch and - in the photograph - the lovely Goldfinch.

Britain's tiniest bird, the Goldcrest.

One of my favourite birds, the Nuthatch, in 2012 we had numerous individuals visiting the feeders and bird-bath, this year I haven't seen any which is a bit disappointing, I hope they have got through the winter, I will update as soon as I see one.